Meditating with Tim Ryan

Rep. Tim Ryan may have once been a typical politician, but no longer: The Ohio Democrat has traded in the hurried mentality that dominates Capitol Hill for a more Zen-like approach.

Literally.

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Ryan’s new book, “A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit,” is all about the benefits of meditation, which he began practicing after the 2008 election.

“I got into it because I was getting to the point where I was running too fast, doing too much — and I felt myself getting burned out, basically,” he said.

Ryan tries to meditate 45 minutes each morning and, if he can, sneak in a quick breathing exercise during the workday. “I do take moments of, like, ‘OK, take a breath here’ … in between meetings, or pulling away from the BlackBerry or iPhone.”

And it pays off in his day job.

“You’re here more for when people are talking to you, when your constituents are talking to you, when you’re listening in a hearing, when you’re having a discussion or a debate with somebody,” said Ryan, adding that the goal is to do “a little more listening and being present, not always thinking about, ‘OK, what am I going to say?’”

So how, exactly, does Ryan recommend one meditate? For the latest installment in POLITICO’s “Game Changer” series, Ryan walked us through the process. Some of his pointers:

“You try to create a little space. So, for example, we would sit here, you try to sit with your back straight and your feet on the floor and you can keep your eyes open and pick a spot on the floor, or you can close your eyes.”

“All you’re going to do is you’re going to breathe in — and know that you’re breathing in. And breathe out — and know that you’re breathing out. But don’t try to do something.”

“Try to notice your breath. Is it deep? Is it shallow? Is your belly going in or out? Just notice what’s going on. That’s all it really is.”

“This is about being, not doing. And it’s a huge shift because we’re always … doing something.”

“It’s very simple but very difficult. It’s easy to learn and difficult to do.”

Over time, says Ryan, meditating will help “you build a level of resiliency on how to deal with those stressful situations. ‘OK, I’m having a stressful thought. I can respond to this thought, or I can react to the thought.’ And the key here really is to get yourself in a mode where you start to respond to things as opposed to react to things. And there’s a huge difference.”

“You begin, over time, to just see your thoughts as thoughts,” Ryan said. “It’s your mind and body and everything generating thoughts, and you don’t have to get hooked up into them.”